E-Marketing for Budget Car Rental in Australia - Business Plan Example

E-MARKETING PLAN FOR BUDGET CAR RENTAL IN AUSTRALIA Introduction Hertz is a worldwide car rental company with over 220 car hire locations in Australia which covers all states and major airports and towns. The car hire services covers hire for holiday and business that suit individual budget. The vehicle models given include buses, trucks and vans. SWOT analysis Marketing mix Analysis Strengths Strong market position- Hertz enjoys a strong market positioning in Australia. It commands most of the major cities and airports. This is an imperative facet in regard to its online marketing. If the company can have a well online establishment, it stands a chance of even winning more customers and widening its market. Extensive geographical reach- with over 220 car hire locations in Australia, it is apparent that the company can enhance its operations in these areas if it engages in effective online marketing. Weaknesses High dependency on external funding- dependency on the eternal funding can be tricky for organizations that want to diversify its market. Unlike organizations that depend on its internal revenue for funding its operations, external funding might limit the company from expanding its business operations through online marketing. This is arguably true because online marketing requires resources that would support development of the marketing tools.1 Opportunities Growth using strategic alliances- Hertz has an opportunity of diversifying its market through online marketing by collaborating with other companies that offer subsidiary services. For instance, although the company offers its services to major airports in Australia, through different online marketing tools, the company can collaborate with small airports to strategically win over customers from such companies. Additionally, major cities, hotels and other tourist attraction facilities can be a major target by Hertz through online marketing. Threats Competition is the major threat to its online marketing- major competitors such as avis have already ventured into e-marketing and this poses as a threat to Hertz. In this regard, the company has to strategically devise strong e-marketing strategies that surpass those of its competitors.2 Differentiation Every company has its own strategies that ensure maintenance of competitive advantage. With the advancements in technology, the company can come up with unique e-marketing strategies that would put it ahead of its competitors. For instance, since most of its competitors have ventured to e-marketing, Hertz can decide to go an extra mile and develop mobile phone applications that can ease booking services and other advertisement applications. Segmentation Hertz has clearly studied and understood the Australian market. Partnering with other agents such as airports and tour agents has positioned it well in the market. In regard to advancing its operations, the company can target individual groups by engaging in e-marketing.3 For instance, it would be advantageous for the company to employ some e-marketing targeting travelers in airports and other strategic places. Online advertisement on major travel agents websites can be considered instrumental in that the agents can partner with the company in reaching their customers. Some travel customers find it difficult finding rental vehicles for their businesses or tourism. Such customers can be targeted by involving travel agents in Hertz e-marketing. On the other hand, Hertz can design different e-marketing strategies targeting customer characteristics such as age, gender, income and cultural background.4 For instance, on its website, the company can decide to categorize different packages with different prices for different vehicle models, which in this case targets both middle and high income earners. Social class target may involve advertising different car models that suits different social class, lifestyle and personality. People from rural areas might require 4 wheel drive vehicles as compared to urban people. Targeting After a well structured segmentation, hertz needs to critically choose its targets. This is indispensable because no single strategy suits all customer groups. Since Hertz has many competitors and would want to target more market segments, it would be important to select multi-segment targeting. Nevertheless, this approach would require that the company to conduct extensive market research to ascertain the necessities of each target group.5 For instance, youth might require vehicles fitted with different sporting accessories as opposed to elderly, who would just need a simple vehicle. Positioning This would require the company to develop a marketing strategy that creates a brand image to different target groups. However, researchers have pointed out that this is best achieved when organizations are able to meet the outlined quality of services. Different marketing mix can aid achievement of positioning by promoting its services through e-marketing. Effective positioning involves clear understanding of competitors’ products.6 For instance, since Hertz would be targeting groups that have already been targeted by its competitors, it would be critical to understand why its competitors thrive in the said market and mange to win the loyalty of the targeted group. This way, the company will be in a position to devise new strategies that would attract the target group. Objectives To diversify market by venturing into new markets To increase online customer base by engaging in vibrant online marketing To improve on quality of services by obtaining feedback from customers online The 4 Ps Product For the Hertz to achieve its objectives, it is critical to take note of the kind of services that its customers want. Currently, customers want fuel efficient vehicles that are cost effective. Unless customers want high fuel consumptions, it would be indispensable for the company to ensure that both high and low fuel consumption vehicles are available for the customers. In addition, due to the continued campaign for eco-friendly vehicles, it would be critical for the company to stock vehicles that will help in reducing customers’ carbon footprint. Besides, different people from different cultures have different vehicle preferences. In this regard, Hertz need to have a variety of car models that suits different people from different cultures. This can be achieved by conducting online survey where people can give their opinions in regard to their vehicle preferences.7 Pricing Studies have documented that consumers relate price as an indication of quality.8 Although thus might be seen as a tricky part, it would also be necessary for the company to have a wide research on what customers expect and offer different competitive prices for different vehicles and locations. However, prices needed to be calculated in such a way that they will meet all costs and competitive enough to achieve profitability while at the same time affordable to customers. Promotion When promoting its services, Hertz has to consider different customer’s needs and their perceptions in regard to the quality of the services offered. For instance, Hertz customers have been identified in regard to their demographic, geographic and psychographic characteristics. For instance, people from Sidney city might have a notion that low price rental cars are not of good quality as compared to people from other parts of the country. In light of this, it would be imperative that the company to differentiate people and locations in reference to their preferences and devise the necessary models and prices for each of the locations.9 Place Although Hertz has established itself well in the Australian market, it would be necessary to target more markets in the country. However, the company has to research on where customers from these areas get their services from. This would also entail looking at specific things they look for in regard to their preferred companies. Additionally, the company has to establish what its competitors such as Avis do to maintain competitive advantage in those areas. Implementation Designing and proposing is just one step of a marketing plan. However, for the plan to be effective, it is indispensable to have a clear implementation plan. The implementation strategy starts by involving the staff in the whole process of marketing plan. It is critical for them to participate or contribute to the plan. They are instrumental in that they can offer credible information about the best way to go about it.10 Involving the staff ensures that there is adequate skills and aptitude required in the implementation of the marketing plan. This also offers an opportunity of mentoring them in different areas of the plan. In addition, it is necessary to stay on task since many companies design a marketing plan only to be obstructed by internal and external forces. The plan developer must stay focused on who does what and when. Monitoring performance and progress is also important since it enables the plan developer to determine whether there is success or not. In case of failure, he is in a position to adjust some points of the plan. Budget evaluation Given the extensiveness of the plan, it is apparent that the company will spend a substantial amount of resources in effecting the plan. There should be enough resources for training staff members that will be mandated to execute the plan. Research on the marketing strategy to be used would require some resources. This might cover things like travel expenses, recording equipments and other material. Training staff- $1000 Transport-$500 Recording equipments- $800 Other resources- $1000 Total- $3300 In order to check whether the plan has been effective, it would be important to check whether each of the three objectives has been achieved. For instance, if the number of customers in the target market increase, then it translates to the effectiveness of the plan. Additionally, if there is increase in positive feedback from customers on the level of quality of services, this would act as an indicator of success of the plan. Bibliography: Becherer, Richard and Halstead, Diane. "Characteristics and internet marketing strategies of online auction sellers." Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising 1, No. 1, (2004): 24-37. Kiang, Melody. "A framework for analyzing the potential benefits of internet marketing." Journal of Electronic Commerce Research 2, No. 4 (2001): 157-163. Priyadarsini, Shanthakumari. “A study on E- Promotional strategies for e-marketing.” International Journal of scientific research and management (IJSRM) 1, No. 8 (2013): 426-434. Yannopoulos, Peter. “Impact of the Internet on Marketing Strategy Formulation.” International Journal of Business and Social Science 2 No. 18 (2011): 1-7. Furrer, Olivier. “Internet marketing research: opportunities and problems. 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